Larsen Earns Season Best Finish – 5th at Daytona Supercross

March 6, 2011, 5:45pm

JDR/J-Star/KTM Team rider PJ Larsen earned his season best finish with a 5^th place result at the third round of the AMA East Lites Supercross Series at Daytona International Speedway. His teammate, Tye Simmonds, qualified for his fourth Supercross main event and finished 17^th for the night.

Larsen had a decent start to his evening finishing 4^th in his heat race. He had a top five start and rode a mistake-free race to finish 4^th overall. His result gave him a good gate pick for the main event. “The gate pick was critical here tonight because the start was so important to this race. I was happy to have a good heat race result so I was able to land a decent starting spot for the main,” commented Larsen.

In the main event, Larsen lined up five gates over from the inside of the box next to Dean Wilson. He was able to get a good jump off the start and came around inside the top ten after the first corner. He moved up to 7^th at the end of the first lap and stepped up to 6^th on lap two after moving around Les Smith.

Larsen put in a solid performance racing in 6^th position through the majority of the race. Near the end of the race he was able to jump up one more position when Matt Lemoine crashed. Larsen held 5^th place through the end of the race to earn his season best finish.

“I was glad to put in a decent ride tonight. I am happy to improve upon my overall finish but I still feel I am a podium contender. I want to be on the podium and will continue to work hard to get there,” stated Larsen.

In the Supercross class, Simmonds was able to snatch the final qualifying position into the main event after a long battle with Jarrod Browne. The two riders battled during the final laps of the heat with Simmonds grabbing the golden ticket into the main event.

Simmonds had a poor gate pick in the main after qualifying at the bottom of the group, and therefore, suffered off the start of the race. He was 18^th at the end of the first lap and stayed around that position throughout the majority of the race. “I wasn’t able to get the best start and the lead group pulled away fast. This course was definitely challenging tonight and I am just happy to have made the main event and put in a solid twenty laps,” remarked Simmonds.

The team will head to Indianapolis, IN next weekend for the tenth round of the AMA Supercross Series.

Overall Results Supercross Lites Class –

Blake Baggett
Justin Barcia
Ryan Sipes
Blake Wharton
PJ Larsen – KTM
Jason Anderson
Malcolm Stewart
Dean Wilson
Matt Lemoine
Les Smith
Lance Vincent
Taylor Futrell
Alex Martin
Levi Kilbarger
AJ Cantanzaro
Hunter Clements
Nico Izzi
Kyle Keylon
Hunter Hewitt
Ryan Zimmer

Overall Point Standings Supercross Lites Class –

Justin Barcia – 69
Blake Baggett – 65
Dean Wilson – 60
Ryan Sipes – 54
Blake Wharton – 51
Jason Anderson – 41
Matt Lemoine – 35
Malcolm Stewart – 34
PJ Larsen – 33
Lance Vincent – 33

Overall Results Supercross Class –

Overall Point Standings Supercross Class –

Ryan Villopoto – 196
James Stewart – 173
Chad Reed – 172
Ryan Dungey – 165
Trey Canard – 154
Andrew Short – 128
Brett Metcalfe – 107
Justin Brayton – 105
Davi Millsaps – 104
Kevin Windham – 89